Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, said in an interview on Tuesday with the media outlet Newsy that she plans to retire after concluding her role helping the federal government transition to the Biden administration.
“I will be helpful in any role people think I can be helpful in. And then I will retire,” she said.
In recent weeks Dr. Birx, 64, indicated publicly and privately that she was open to serving in the Biden administration. It was unclear what prompted her to announce her plan to retire. In the interview with Newsy, she called her time at the White House “overwhelming” and difficult on her family. She suggested that recent coverage of a trip she made over the Thanksgiving holiday had unduly dragged her family into the spotlight.
The Associated Press on Sunday reported that after Dr. Birx recommended limiting holiday gatherings to the “immediate household,” she traveled to a vacation home in Delaware over Thanksgiving weekend with three generations of her family, which included several households. Dr. Birx told the A.P. that she did not travel to celebrate Thanksgiving, but rather to winterize the property before a potential sale. She said that those on the trip were part of her immediate household but lived in two homes.
“I think what was done in the last week to my family — you know, they didn’t choose this for me,” she said in her interview with Newsy on Tuesday. “They’ve tried to be supportive.”
Neither the White House nor Dr. Birx responded to requests for comment on Tuesday. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said in a tweet on Tuesday that Mr. Trump “has great respect for Dr. Birx and likes her very much.”
“We wish her well,” she wrote.
Dr. Birx arrived at the White House in late February as Vice President Mike Pence assumed control of the coronavirus task force, and quickly developed a niche as a numbers maven. She worked long hours overseeing a team of specialists in the White House complex gathering data on infections and hospitalizations, whose work she would organize into daily presentations for senior White House officials and the task force. She has also been the point of contact for state and local officials, and oversees the drafting of detailed reports offering guidance to the states.
In recent months, she has traveled around the country extensively, appealing to Americans to wear masks and limit their contact with others, a message that clashed with the White House’s relaxed approach to pandemic restrictions.
Her time in the West Wing, where she keeps an office, elicited broad criticism from public health experts. Senior…
Read More: Covid-19: Birx to Retire After Tumultuous White House Tenure